The government of Japan has presented an Order of the Rising Sun medal to Satoru Izutsu, PhD, for leading a physician-training program between the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i (UH) and Okinawa Chubu Hospital in Japan. UH established the program in 1967 to address the physician shortage in Okinawa after World War II. The program sends 10 UH physicians to Chubu Hospital each year to train medical residents. More than 1,000 physicians have graduated from the program. Izutsu retired from UH in December 2017 and is now emeritus professor of public health and psychiatry. The medal honors Japanese and non-Japanese citizens for achievement in international relations, public service to Japan and promotion of Japanese culture.
West Virginia State University has named DeNeia Thomas, PhD, as its chief of staff. Thomas was previously the associate provost and vice president for institutional effectiveness at Kentucky State University.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has named Redonna Chandler, PhD, head of its AIDS Research Program. Chandler oversees the development and coordination of high-priority research on drug use among patients with HIV/AIDS within NIDA and across other National Institutes of Health institutes. Chandler had been deputy director for the division of clinical innovation at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
The American Association of Suicidology will present its Shneidman Award to Michael Anestis, PhD, this month to honor his research on suicide prevention. Anestis, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi, directs the university’s Suicide and Emotion Dysregulation Laboratory. The association is recognizing him for his studies on risk factors for suicidal behavior among members of the military and civilians, particularly ownership of firearms.
The American Psychosomatic Society has named Sheldon Cohen, PhD, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, as its Distinguished Scientist of 2018. Cohen’s research examines the impact that psychological stress, social relationships and socioeconomic status have on immunity and physical health. He is well known for his research on psychological predictors of susceptibility to the common cold.
The American Psychosocial Oncology Society honored four psychologists in February: Julia H. Rowland, PhD, senior scientific adviser to the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, D.C., won the Holland Distinguished Leadership Award. Kimlin Tam Ashing, PhD, professor and founding director of the Center of Community Alliance for Research and Education at City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, won the Distinguished Public Service Award. Barbara L. Andersen, PhD, distinguished professor of psychology at The Ohio State University, received the Outstanding Education and Training Award. Kelly Trevino, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, won the New Investigator Award.
In recognition of their research on prospective memory, Gilles O. Einstein, PhD, of Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and Mark McDaniel, PhD, of Washington University in St. Louis, were presented with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the International Conference on Prospective Memory. Prospective memory focuses on the ability to remember to perform a planned action, such as answering an email or taking medication.